keyboard disassembly and reassembly

[Akuma]

I was told by a friend that you can completely take out all the keys in your keyboard for a thorough cleaning and even to rearrange the keys however you want.  Some of my keys have been getting sticky, so I decided to give it a try.  I also heard that while the keys are out, you can design them and such before you put them back in.  I took every key out, thoroughly cleaned the keyboard (this took a lot of work), and replaced the keys.  Well, every key works fine now except for the space bar.  I did put it back in correctly, but it keeps sticking anyway and now I have to buy a new one.  It sticks way worse than it ever did, but there is no debris left in it.  I see no logical reason for it to stick!  I just wanted to post here to say that if some of you wanted to take your keyboards apart at some point, do not remove the space bar if it is already working correctly.

Still this keyboard looks pretty cool.  I arranged the F keys from F12 down to F1 (reverse order) xD.  I also boiled the keys in (boiling) water for about 3 seconds.  Now they all look really awesome with a sort of "camouflaged" look.  There are light splotches all over them.  The keyboard looks cool and works fine except for the space bar.  There are 104 keys on this Dell SK-8115 keyboard, but I suspect the odds of the space bar breaking were greater than any other key.  I suppose I needed a new one anyway, since the thing turns 4 years old in May.  It was quite dirty.

By the way, I suspect some of you might blame boiling the keys for the space bar sticking worse, but I genuinely do not think that was the case.  And I do plan to replace this keyboard with the same model, and I will switch over all of my keys except the spacebar.  I really like how it looks!

To those of you keen enough to realize there are spaces in my sentences:

I implemented a temporary fix with a rubber band.  The key works, but not comfortably.

[BFM_Thunder]

hi,

ive been cleaning my keyboard out, in kinda similar way.
i only dont boil em cause it can affect the shape and can cause the plastic to melt 

have u checked if the little iron bars are placed correctly underneath the spacebar?? had some problems myself cause of this 
or its possible that theres to much friction between the button and where u put in the key in the keyboard, could also be cause of the boiling that it expanded alittle. 

I arranged the F keys from F12 down to F1 (reverse order) xD.

beware that this does affect how the keys work.

for example: having the F1 key on the place of F12 does show up as F12 and vice versa (im pretty sure u know this )

By the way, I suspect some of you might blame boiling the keys for the space bar sticking worse, but I genuinely do not think that was the case.

might wanna re check this ?? 

And I do plan to replace this keyboard with the same model, and I will switch over all of my keys except the spacebar.  I really like how it looks!

 

anyway ur going to buy a new one as u said. just something to look out for, if ur planning to do this some other time again

[BFM_JANE]

That happens at work, the space bar messing up. For whatever reason, people pop out keys and move them around (). Once the space bar is out, it seems like it won't work right again when it's back. I figure it's because it's a wide key pressing a narrow button and your thumb is pressing the side of the space bar, not over the narrow button.

There is some kind of plastic bar that evens the pressure of pressing on the side, makes the whole thing go down instead of one side. I can't help you further because (as tempting as it is) I'm not popping out my space bar, and at work I just move to a different station.

Keyboards cost like $20, don't they?


(halomaster knows my space bar info!)

[MrMxyzptlk]

Back in the day it was such a common April Fools prank that no one does it any more...



Maybe there's a revival brewing?!?



...And as for "still sticking" - that's probably a problem inside the pressure-sensing part INSIDE where the key sets that's failing or somehow managed to get dirt/grit in it.

[Akuma]

Yes, the only thing that pops the space bar back up is that gelatinous little cushion in the center.  I must have damaged that.  And also to JANE, yes I saw the metal bar.  The purpose of that is to make the entire space bar go straight down while remaining horizontally level.  My problem was that the key either sticks down or up, having nothing to do with only one side being stubborn.  Yeah maybe I could have expanded some part of the key, but none of the other keys did this.  I do not mind replacing the keyboard, as it is quite old.  Further, what fun would there be if you did not take stuff apart once in a while and break it?  It is a little hobby of mine to do such things (with my own property only).  =)

And yes, of course all keys have the same function as they originally did at the factory.  As Mxy said, changing the labels can be fun. =p  With this, I found some of the keys are shaped differently than others.  This is built in according to placement on the keyboard.  If you take them all out and look at them, you will see they are not all exactly the same shape.  If you rearrange them randomly across the board, they would FEEL different, even to a blind person.  Think about it... =p